Prof. Charles Spence set to kickoff Wine Vision next week

Wine Vision, a conference that draws leaders of the wine trade from around the world, will open next week with Charles Spence a professor of Experimental Psychology at Oxford Univiersty kicking off the event with a multi sensory experience.

The Week That Was: top news, Q&As and opinion on Harpers.co.uk

In case you missed some of the headlines this week on harpers.co.uk, we have done a review of the top online news, financial news for the drinks trade, Q&As, and opinion stories.

Broadland Wineries on course to become a £250m wine business in 12 years

Broadland Wineries is on track to grow its business from £10 million turnover in 2006, £100m by 2016 and climb to £250m by 2026 if it continues its journey of being a fully-fledged international wine supplier in its own right and away from its roots as a contract bottler.

Casella set to buy Peter Lehmann Wines

Two major players of the Australian wine world are to come together as Casella Family Brands, owners of Yellow Tail, plans to buy Peter Lehmann Wines.

To boldly go where no wine tasting has gone before

Wine conferences around the world will soon have an excuse to tap up William Shatner as their guest speaker.

Tesco bolsters wine team as it looks to improve quality and customer focus

Tesco has boosted its wine team with the addition of an assistant buyer and quality manager.

Conviviality Retail to expand into Scotland

Conviviality Retail, owner of the Bargain Booze and Wine Rack brands, has revealed plans to expand into Scotland with its half-yearly trading update broadly in line with last year.

London on-trade sees October sales up 4.1%

London bar and restaurant chains have seen like for like sales up 4.1% in October, while outside the capital managed operators are ramping up new site openings.

DWCC 2014: why everyone in wine needs to know how to communicate effectively

The annual DWCC event is no longer just for bloggers, but has become essential for anyone involved in wine communications. When it comes to communications we really are all in it together, summed up Jancis Robinson MW after three days of the seventh annual Digital Wine Communications Conference in Montreux, Switzerland.

ProWein launches new Asia show in Singapore from 2016 to support its Chinese exhibition

China's Singles Day online spend surpasses $2 billion in first hour

China's Singles Day is the world's largest online shopping day of the year and today it smashed online spending records yet again hitting more than $2 billion spent online in the first hour.

Oddbins Ayo Akintola in his own words: Majestic is 'screwing' suppliers

Oddbins managing director Ayo Akintola describes Majestic's recent demand from suppliers for financial support for its new warehouse as "one of the shabbiest business decisions" in the past couple of decades in the UK wine industry. Here, in his own words, he responds to its actions:

Amathus opens fourth London store in Shoreditch

Drinks distributor and retailer Amathus is opening a fourth London store, this time in Shoreditch, after buying the City Beverage Company business.

Bordeaux's fine wine market ripe for recovery, says Liv-ex chief

Four years of falling prices have brought the Bordeaux market to its "lowest ebb since the early 1970s", meaning now is a good time to enter the market.

London's property market 'brutal' for expanding wine independents

London's independent wine merchants and restaurateurs say finding new locations is "extremely challenging", given intense competition from established operators.

Lidl best value supermarket for wine, says new app

Lidl is the UK's best supermarket for wine when it comes to value - according to an 18-month study tasting over 4,000 wines carried out by the Wotwine app.

Christmas Report: why wine has reasons to be merry

It's that time again. With more than a third of wine sales coming through in the 12 weeks of Christmas, the trade is nervously checking the weather forecast and gauging the mood among consumers as shoppers prepare to fill their stockings, writes Gemma McKenna.

Major wine brands see double digit growth, says Mintel

Hardys, Lindeman's, Kumala and Casillero del Diablo have all posted double-digit value growth in a flat market, according to the latest wine report from Mintel.

Wine value growth to slow in next five years, says Mintel

Wine's value growth, up to now bolstered by duty and price increases, is likely to slow in the next five years as consumer concerns over costs, alcohol and sugar content grow.

French wine should be more ambitious in UK

French wine needs to be a "bit more ambitious" in the UK, according to a host of leading figures at last month's France Summit.